Roman Mausoleum of La Torrecilla
On the outskirts of cities, next to the roads, monuments were often built as part of their decoration. These could have a political meaning, such as triumphal arches; an honorary purpose, such as temples; or a religious function, such as necropolises and mausoleums.
Although it is not located on the main road — the road from Tarraco to Asturica Augusta — but very close to an ancient Roman villa, one of the finest late Roman mausoleums found in the Ebro Valley can be seen in the town of Corella, Navarra.
It was probably connected to the villa by a via privata, a private road that was not funded by the Empire but by the owner. This mausoleum belonged to a Roman family group settled in the villa.
Later, the building was converted into a Visigothic chapel, with the corresponding modifications. Finally, during the Islamic period, it was transformed into dwellings, as indicated by the remains of Muslim pottery found there, dating from the 9th century. The site remained occupied until around the 10th century, as suggested by the discovery of an oil lamp from that period.
Burial methods were very important to the Romans, as they believed in another form of life after death. For this, the preservation of the body in a tomb was necessary, since the absence of burial meant that the deceased had no dwelling place and would wander restlessly in the afterlife.
The Route
Welcome to the Roman road known as the Via de Italia in Hispanias, or the road from Tarraco to Asturica Augusta, as it passes through the Ribera of Navarra.
Put on your Roman sandals, or caligae, and follow the Roman road in the footsteps left by the Roman Empire in the Ribera of Navarra.
You can walk along some of the sections of the Roman road that connected Tarragona, Tarraco, with Astorga, Asturica Augusta. This was one of Rome’s most important trade routes, facilitating the transport of gold from El Bierzo, iron from Moncayo, Mons Chaunus, pottery from the kilns of La Rioja, and oil and wine produced in the Ribera of Navarra.
The Romans’ work in building roads was so outstanding that even today some stretches of roads and dual carriageways follow those ancient Roman routes. This is the case of the road from Cascante to Corella, which coincides with the former Roman road.
Starting your route either at the border with Aragón or at the border with La Rioja, you can follow the way using markers and directional arrows, as well as 12 information panels that will help you understand and enjoy this journey through the Roman era.
An interpretive area, accessed from kilometre 10 of the NA-3042 Ablitas-Ribaforada road, will allow you to discover archaeological remains.
CASCANTVM
The passage of the Via de Italia in Hispanias brought this territory into the commercial network, with all that this meant for the development of the local economy. The current municipal areas of the Ribera of Navarra through which the road runs formed part, in Roman times, of the Territorium Cascantum.
Cascantum, present-day Cascante, held the title of municipality under Latin law, as shown by the minting of coins in the time of Tiberius, between AD 14 and 37, bearing the inscription Mun(icipium) Cascantum. It was the population centre from which the whole territory was controlled and organised, subdivided into pagi. The pagi were small settlements from which administrative tasks were carried out to control the ager, or agricultural territory, where the vici and villae were scattered.
Our route passes through the town of Cascante, where you can continue your way through its streets by following the metal plaques set into the ground.
This town is the Roman municipality par excellence. Its municipal area contains open-air archaeological sites from different periods. Roman remains are scattered throughout the area: Calle César, Calle Tiberio and the surroundings of El Romero. The Roman praetorium would have stood at the start of Calle César, and the city entrance arch on the Guelbenzu plain.
Interpretive area
In the municipality of Ablitas, you will find an area set up as an interpretive space. When you arrive, you will be standing before one of the places where our Roman road has been best preserved to date.
Here you can see how Roman roads were built — or, more precisely, how the Romans built the Via de Italia in Hispanias, which crossed the Ribera of Navarra and ran through the Ebro Valley.
The interpretive area is located at kilometre 8 of the NA-3042 Ablitas-Ribaforada road. You can access it directly from this road by following the signs, or discover it on foot along the Roman road itself, following the proposed signposted route.
From the 4th century AD onwards, with the gradual disappearance of the Roman administrative system, the road network began to suffer from a lack of maintenance and conservation. In many cases, the passage of vehicles caused the wear and disappearance of much of the gravel that made up the upper layer, resulting in the foundation layer being used as the road surface.
This is the case of the recovered section of road in the interpretive area, where the layers that originally formed part of the lower stone structure can now be seen as the surface of the road.
Around the interpretive area, you can explore and discover some of the best exposed remains of the Roman road.
Life in the villae
As you can see, the Via de Italia in Hispanias served both as a means of transport and as a way of life. After the construction of the roads and Roman control over Hispania, the road network and the administrative division of the Peninsula were reorganised.
Life around the roads
Within the division into provinciae, or provinces, the Roman administration applied a smaller administrative division to certain provincial territories: the conventus.
In Cortes, we find the most complete Iron Age settlement. Cerro de la Cruz has made it possible to document many aspects of the population of the Ribera of Navarra, as it was inhabited by successive settlements until Roman times. We can say that Cortes offers the clearest example of how indigenous settlements quickly absorbed the Roman way of life, with both cultures coexisting while new agricultural techniques were adapted to the fertile market gardens of the Ribera.
The fertility of these lands enabled a notable process of territorial occupation, where the exploitation of natural resources was a fundamental economic activity, especially in:
Agriculture: based mainly on the Mediterranean triad, with the cultivation of cereals, olives and vines.
Livestock farming: mainly based on the breeding of sheep, cattle, pigs and poultry.
Craft and industrial activities: mainly wine and oil production, as well as pottery, the making of esparto grass and wicker tools, dairy production such as cheese, and lime production.
Quarrying: mainly limestone, sandstone and gypsum, providing construction materials.
Exploitation of forest resources: holm oaks, rockroses, Aleppo pines, stone pines, tamarisks, kermes oaks, scrubland and Portuguese oaks, used as construction materials, fuel and for hunting.